General Announcement: Breaking Up With Politics

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was thinking about rejiggering the format of my blog. Now, I’m formally announcing that Topical Politics will no longer be a category*, meaning I’ll have to come up with something else to write on Thursdays. I haven’t gotten that far in the planning yet. The reason I don’t want to write about politics any longer is complex and layered. I’ll try to dissect it so you can understand why I’m putting the pen down during these turbulent political times. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but I made the decision after Ian told me he loved my POOG posts (which you really should read because they’re pretty damn funny, if I do say so myself, and I do) because I got to write like me. I never thought about it that way, but it’s true. I love writing the POOG posts because I can just let ‘er rip and not care too much about how I’m coming across. It’s satire, so I can say whatever the fuck I want! It’s exhilarating and freeing, and my true voice shines through.

I used to be able to write about politics in that way, but somehow, I no longer feel able to do so. Let me recount the reasons why. One, I’m having a hard time laughing at the current administration because they scare the fuck out of me. Not just because they have no compassion and don’ t give a damn about anything other than themselves and their wealthy compatriots, but because they are so fucking inept and could bring about World War III. Fortunately (if sadly), many of our allies are more into mocking the president rather than trying to take him down, but that could change on a dime.

By the way, I’m so not into macho alpha/beta shit, but the video of my political bae, President Emmanuel Macron, owning our president with that handshake is a thing of beauty. He said it was to show our president that he wasn’t going to concede on the little things, and it’s one way of dealing with a bully. I would not kick President Macron out of bed for eating crackers, I’ll tell you what. You can have your Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; he reminds me of a grown-up frat boy, tbh. That’s neither here nor there, so moving along.

It’s almost seven months since the election, and I’m still not over the fact that so many of my fellow Americans wanted this man as president. I know there are more of us than there are of them, but it doesn’t really matter right now. All of our collective id is on display, and it’s not a pretty sight. It’s not that he’s a (nominal) Republican; it’s more than that. If we had ended up with a President McCain or President Romney, I would have been pissed, but not as scared as I am now. I would have understood why someone voted for them (though, obviously, not agree). I do not understand voting for a failed business man who has no experience in politics, and that’s the least of his problems.

I also don’t like how in focusing on this president and everything he’s doing wrong, we’re not paying enough attention to Congress. That’s where the real deals get down, and the Republicans are doing some nasty shit.

The biggest reason, however, is that I hate the endless infighting between progressives and pragmatists within the Democratic Party. It’s like being a kid whose parents are going through a horrible divorce, and you just want to disappear. I don’t like how each side is hunkering down and and demonizing the other side, and it’s making me sad, tired, and weary. I don’t find much humor in the situation, if any, and I find myself writing about it in a very tepid way because I have friends on both sides of the divide.

I’m not giving up on politics completely, but I just don’t want to feel as if I have to write about it every week. I don’t know what’s replacing it yet, either, but I have a week to figure it out.